A man died, leaving his possessions to his 3 sons. Part of that inheritance were 11 camels. The instructions of the deceased was that exact half of the camels would go to the eldest son, 1/4 of the camels to the middle son, and 1/6 to the youngest.
It was obvious cutting the camels was out of the question, but they were in a quandary until a wise man came along. He was told of the situation and porposed a solution. What was his solution?
Originally posted by geepamoogle A man died, leaving his possessions to his 3 sons. Part of that inheritance were 11 camels. The instructions of the deceased was that exact half of the camels would go to the eldest son, 1/4 of the camels to the middle son, and 1/6 to the youngest.
It was obvious cutting the camels was out of the question, but they were in a quandary until a wise ma ...[text shortened]... ame along. He was told of the situation and porposed a solution. [b]What was his solution?[/b]
He let them borrow a camel. Didn't we just do this one?
My father, the herdsman, wanted to give me half of his herd to me with the condition that I didn't kill any one of the sheep.
It turned out he just had only one sheep. So I borrowed another sheep from a neighbour. Half of the two sheep is now only one sheep which I kept, and returned the other one to the neighbour.
The question is - who has the other half of the herd?
If there was no neighbour and I just drew a sheep on a piece of paper, symbolizing one sheep. Could I do the same thing anyway? Keeping half of the herd, i.e. one sheep? Is the other sheep really necessary?
What would my father say when half of his herd now is drew on a piece of paper?
Originally posted by FabianFnas What about this one?
My father, the herdsman, wanted to give me half of his herd to me with the condition that I didn't kill any one of the sheep.
It turned out he just had only one sheep. So I borrowed another sheep from a neighbour. Half of the two sheep is now only one sheep which I kept, and returned the other one to the neighbour.
The question ...[text shortened]... lly necessary?
What would my father say when half of his herd now is drew on a piece of paper?
This sort of puzzle is illogical but sounds like it's logical.
Borrowing a sheep does not make your father's herd size 2. Nor does drawing a sheep.
Originally posted by AThousandYoung This sort of puzzle is illogical but sounds like it's logical.
Borrowing a sheep does not make your father's herd size 2. Nor does drawing a sheep.
So very true.
The solution of this kind of problem (camels or dogs or whatever) has nothing to do with that you borrow a unit and leave it back afterwards.
The solution is to find out that the problem is illogical and how it is so.
Inheritance problem
26 Feb '07 03:481 edit
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